


padlocked

by themazepunner



Category: The Maze Runner Series - All Media Types
Genre: Pandemic - Freeform, Quarantine, let's be honest there will be, lockdown - Freeform, not sure if there'll be romance yet but probably
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-23
Updated: 2021-01-09
Packaged: 2021-03-10 20:14:46
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,354
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28252995
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/themazepunner/pseuds/themazepunner
Summary: newt and minho have invited their childhood best friends around for the week when a worldwide pandemic gets out of control and the country is forced into lockdown.
Kudos: 8





	1. this is how it begins

**Author's Note:**

> hi this is the first chapter of hopefully many, centred around the gladers in quarantine.

They’re all lounged across Newt and Minho’s living room floor, eating pizza, when Frypan pulls out his phone and unknowingly determines their future.

Minho had the bright idea of inviting his best friends over from their different parts of the country, to hang out and catch up after more than a year apart. They’ve set up mattresses in the lounge and are spending the weekend eating pizza, telling stories and watching their favourite movies.

“Um,” Frypan announces, not knowing how else to get his friends’ attention. “Houston, we got a problem.”

Newt pauses the TV.

Everyone’s already a little on edge. News has been filtering in about the COVID-19 pandemic, which seems to escalate more with each passing day. 

“What are you talking about?” Gally asks, taking the phone from Frypan’s hands.

He stares at it for a moment, reading the screen.

“Oh shit,” is all he manages to say.

"What?" Thomas has now snatched the phone from Gally and reads the headline aloud. " _ Nationwide quarantine commencing at noon tomorrow _ …"

The room goes silent for a moment as the news sinks in. Then, the inevitable: lots of shouting.

"Quarantining the whole country?!"

"How am I gonna get home in time?!"

"Should we be buying stuff now?!"

"Where's noon?!"

"I'm too hot not to be seen!"

"Shut up!" Newt yells, getting everyone's attention. "Everyone in this bloody country is in the same boat. We'll help each other to get home and find whatever else it is we need, but we're not going to achieve that by yelling."

"Are there any flights?" Ben asks, searching for his phone.

"Here," Teresa's already looking them up. "Wow! They're not cheap."

Brenda peers over her shoulder, reading the prices as Teresa scrolls through. "I am not paying that much just to end up getting the virus on the plane."

"We could hire a car?" Gally suggests. 

"That would take forever!" Ben complains.

"We could walk?"

Thomas' suggestion is met with a pillow to the head, courtesy of Ben.

They continue to discuss different travel options, weighing up prices, travel time and risk of infection.

Newt has been quiet for a while, obviously deep in thought. He makes eye contact with Minho, who nods. 

Finally, Newt speaks. "You could just stay here?"

Those five words stop the discussion in its tracks. It is an option; they could all just stay exactly where they are, at Newt and Minho's place, until quarantine ends.

They consider it.

"We have been saying we never get to spend time with each other…" Frypan speaks slowly.

"It's not a bad idea," says Gally.

"We're already set up to sleep here," Brenda agrees.

"Who's in? Minho asks. "Would anyone still rather get home?"

They all shake their heads.

"I'm in," says Thomas.

"Me too." Teresa.

"I am." Brenda.

And, one by one, they all agree to spend their quarantine together, in Minho and Newt's two bedroom flat for the foreseeable future.

  
  
  
  



	2. this is the tribute's trip

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> the supermarket is more complex than first thought

The next issue arises when the group realises they don’t have enough food to last them all for the week.

“Someone needs to go to the supermarket,” Newt says, staring into the kitchen cupboard, as the others finish contacting their families, friends and flatmates to let them know they’re not coming home anytime soon. 

“There’s danger out there,” replies Ben, immediately.

Then, as if on cue and much to literally nobody’s surprise, Thomas gets up and runs out the front door. 

Newt slowly leans his forehead on the fridge door. “Will somebody stop him?”

“On it.”

Gally steps out the door after Thomas.

A second later, he steps back in.

“Just… quick question. Why are we stopping him?” he asks.

Newt’s head leaves the fridge door and he glares at Gally for a brief second before stomping out of the kitchen, through the living room and out the front door. 

Gally raises his hands and steps back, making room.

Brenda’s pretty sure Newt’s voice can be heard from space.

“TOMMY! Get your arse back in here! You can’t run to the supermarket, the busses aren’t in service, you don’t have  _ shoes _ on, you haven’t got a list and most importantly, you’re going the wrong fucking way!”

The others wait in the living room with baited breath. Then, a few moments later, they hear footsteps on concrete as someone in socks runs towards the house.

Thomas jogs back in, followed by Newt who shuts the door firmly behind them, glaring at the back of Thomas’ head before turning to the rest of the group. 

“This is not bloody mission impossible,” he says. “It’s a trip to the supermarket. Any of us can go but we should probably make it someone who we can trust to bring the list safely to the shop, read it, and actually follow it.” 

“So, not Thomas.” Brenda raises her eyebrows pointedly in the direction of the recent escapee.

“Hey!”

Teresa’s thinking hard in the way that she always does, trying to find a solution. “We probably shouldn’t send anyone with any medical conditions either. Not when we don’t know how contagious this thing is.”

“Gally has asthma.”

“Out me, why don’t you?”

“He’s also bi.”

“Minho! What the fuck?”

“Does it count as outing if he’s already come out to us?”

“Thomas, that’s an excellent question for some other time. All of you, shut up.” Newt tries to reinstate some order. “Is there anyone else who shouldn’t go?”

“The aisles confuse me.”

“That’s a good point, Ben.”

“Brenda will fight someone for toilet paper,” Minho says.

“Is that reason for or against her going?”

“For.”

“It should probably be an ‘against’.”

Gally slumps down on the couch and kicks his feet up on the coffee table. He sighs. “Fry will follow the list but buy the most expensive option for each thing.”

“I will not!”

“Um, yesterday afternoon I watched you buy a fifteen dollar orange juice!”

“Teresa suggested it to me!”

“Then she’s not going either!”

The arguing continues over who should and shouldn’t go. Minho and Newt find themselves staring at each other across the room, the only ones not speaking in all the chaos. 

Minho shrugs.

Newt rolls his eyes.

“I’ll go,” they both say at the same time.

The group turns to them, their argument shut down. 

Brenda raises a hand and waves it dismissively towards them. “Newt can’t go.”

“Why not?”

“You’re too precious.”

“What the f-”

Chaos erupts again, this time, in the form of an intense debate over whether Newt is or isn’t ‘too precious’ to go to the supermarket. This time, Thomas is the one who doesn’t participate. He simply sits back and waits for it to die down. Then, when it doesn’t, he intervenes. 

“Okay, okay! Shut up! Shut up! Newt, stop talking! Newt!”

“- deep in your bloody earhole!”

“Newt!”

He finally gets everyone’s attention. Minho’s doing a terrible job of trying to hold back a laugh at Newt’s comment. Thomas ignores him.

“Newt, I mean this in the nicest way, but the supermarket is going to be nuts right now. Really nuts. Fight-to-the-death-over-canned-tomatoes kind of nuts.”

“Do they have to be can-”

“Shh!” Thomas shushes Frypan and turns back to Newt. “I just think, in terms of  _ stress _ , Minho might get the job done better. This time.”

Newt listens, then nods understandingly. “Fine. We’re wasting time anyway. Minho it is. Now let’s come up with this list.”

  
  
  


Eighty-seven minutes later, Minho arrives back from the supermarket, safely, with everything they need and more. 

“I knew I was the best man for the job,” he gloats, waltzing in the front door with bags slung in rows on each arm. 

The others all rush over to help him unload and unpack.

Once it’s done, they step back, staring at the kitchen in silence. It seems that reality starts to sink in at the same time for each of them.

“Lockdown,” Frypan mulls the word over, still getting used to the idea. “Are we ready?” 

  
  



	3. this is what happens on a hot day

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> the first day of quarantine is scorching hot, so the group comes up with ways to pass the time.

“Remember when Gally got stuck on the fence at Newt’s house?”

Inevitably, when old childhood friends catch up, some reminiscing takes place. The group is sitting around on Newt and Minho’s deck, drinking the world’s best homemade lemonade, courtesy of Frypan. The first day of quarantine has been scorching hot, so Minho’s pulled a paddling pool seemingly out of nowhere and they’re all gathered around, dipping their feet in the cool water, talking about their time together growing up.

“Hey! That wasn’t my fault! There were sticky bits of wood, suspiciously well-designed to trap shorts!”

Newt rolls his eyes. “Now, why are you giving me  _ that _ look, Gally?”

“I don’t know,  _ Newt _ . Maybe you were mad at me for pushing you in the lake the day before.”

When Newt and Gally get together, there’s always some form of rivalry that takes place. It’s always lighthearted to them, but to anyone who hasn't experienced it before, it can be alarming.

“What?! So I redesigned my whole fence so when everyone came around  _ your  _ shorts would be the only ones to get snagged?! I should’ve been a bloody engineer!”

Thomas, lounging beside Newt, snorts and spits out some of his lemonade.

“I don’t know, man. You seemed to wait a long time before going to find your dad.”

“He was working!”

Minho decides to contribute to the conversation. “Gally, I distinctly remember you telling us not to tell any parents under any circumstances.”

“Yeah, you said you’d cut my fingers off so I couldn’t use them to open the door,” Teresa agrees.

Gally throws his head back, rolling his eyes dramatically. “It wasn’t a  _ real  _ threat!”

“What about when you asked me to climb up there so you could push me off?” Thomas muses.

“That one was real.”

“See, you did  _ like _ pushing people,” Brenda points out.

Newt raises his hands as if she’s proved his point. 

Frypan pours himself another glass of lemonade. “I don’t hear anyone talking about the fact that Thomas ran into the glass door that same day.” He sips the lemonade to punctuate his sentence.

Everyone looks over at Thomas.

“Was that really the same day?” Ben frowns at him.

“Oh yeah! He was teasing Gally and tried to make a quick escape!” Minho laughs.

Newt shakes his head and stares into the paddling pool. “My dad was not impressed.”

“Neither was my forehead!” Thomas practically shouts, pointing to his head. “I still have the scar!”

“Yes, that’s very hot, Tommy. I’m sure all the girls love you for it.”

Thomas blushes and drops his gaze. “Your door got in my way,” he mumbles.

“Oh!” Brenda exclaims. “Thomas! I know what went wrong. When you get to a door, you’re supposed to  _ open _ it before you go through it. I can see why you might’ve found that confusing.”

“Shut up, Brenda.”

“That’s exactly what the door was.”

Newt interrupts to change the subject ever so slightly. “You know, Tommy, after that day Sonya always called you Broken Glass Thomas.”

The name makes Thomas laugh. “I know. She smashed a beaker in her chemistry class once and blamed me. I wasn’t even at school that day.”

Teresa laughs. “Your sister was the best, Newt!”

“Yeah,” Newt smiles and is about to elaborate when Minho interrupts, a thought suddenly occuring to him out of nowhere.

“VOLLEYBALL!” he screams. “Newt, we have the net!” 

He stands up and jumps over the steps to the garden, running to their shed. 

“It’s far too bloody hot for-”

“FOUND IT!”

“- your bullshit.”

Ben is somehow already on the grass beside Minho. Gally’s handed his drink to Fry, who’s handed both of theirs to Teresa, who’s put them all down on the deck and followed after them. Brenda’s groaned and reluctantly stood up. 

Thomas extends a hand to Newt. "If you're team captain, pick me. I want to be on the sporty side."

Newt spits out his lemonade and leans back in his chair, sizing Thomas up. "You think  _ my  _ team would be the sporty team?!"

Thomas looks at his hand, outstretched. "You were always the sporty one."

The comment makes Newt laugh. "I  _ was.  _ That changed, remember?"

"Hurry up and help, you losers!"

"Okay then, I'll be on the still-is-sporty-but-in-denial team. Come on, N." 

Thomas helps Newt up and turns to Minho. "We're not gonna lose! We've got Newt!" He throws an arm around Newt's shoulder and leads them both onto the grass. 

Minho, Ben and Gally have already set up the net. 

"Team captains?" Frypan asks.

"Newt and Minho?" Brenda suggests. 

"Works for me."

"Same here."

"Let's do it!"

Minho picks first. "Gally."

Then Newt. "Tommy."

"Ben."

"Brenda." 

"Frypan."

"Teresa."

"Let's play, losers! First to ten wins!"

Minho regrets his words five minutes into the game, when his team is losing 9-2. 

"Suck on this, Minho!" Thomas yells, as he serves the ball. 

Ben dives to get it, hitting it up for Gally to set it. Minho comes in with a spike that's heading straight towards Teresa. She passes it in Newt's direction, who jumps up and spikes it hard into the back corner, out of everybody's reach.

Newt's team cheers and runs in for a group hug, while Minho glares at them all.

"Round two?" he asks.

Newt shakes his head. "I'll collapse on you all. It's so bloody hot!"

"Race you to the pool?" Thomas laughs, eyeing up the paddling pool.

Newt shoots a quick glance Thomas' way before darting off in the direction of the paddling pool.

"Hey!" Thomas yells. "It doesn't count if you cheat!"

Newt's already in the pool, so Thomas splashes in beside him. He's bumped from, behind and hears another splash as Minho jumps in. Then Gally, Fry, Brenda and Ben. 

Teresa stands watching them and pulls out her phone to get a picture of the seven of them crammed into the tiny pool. 

"Get in here!" Fry laughs. 

So she does. 

As they all sit in the pool, laughing at the ridiculousness of it all, Newt thinks about how nice it feels to be back with his best friends. Maybe lockdown won't be so bad with these incredible people to keep him company.

  
  
  
  



End file.
